


Landslide

by NeurotropicAgentX



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Abusive Platonic Relationship, But Not in a Domestic Abuse Way, Coercion, Damnation Arc, Eventual Loyalty, Freeza is Not Nice, Gen, In a War Crimes Way, Manipulation, Neither is Vegeta, Opposite of a Redemption Arc, The Perks of Rank, Tread Carefully, violence against a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-06-28 16:50:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15711327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeurotropicAgentX/pseuds/NeurotropicAgentX
Summary: First it’s done to us, then we do it to others, then we order it done.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my editor for her invaluable assistance.

Vegeta roared, dredging the bottom of his power reserves for more energy. The force of his rage and loathing gave him the strength to push further, harder than he’d ever dreamed possible. Was he transcending? Was this what it felt like to be the legendary super saiyan? Elation sang through him as ki coalesced between his hands. His power hummed, sending a tingling feeling that resonated through his whole body. Then with one last push, Vegeta sent the enormous blast straight at his enemy. 

The ground shook with the impact. Soil and rock fountained up and a huge clap of displaced air boomed. Vegeta panted, waiting for the dust to clear. He was so drained that his energy-sensing ability kept sliding out of focus. It had to be enough. This was more energy than he’d channelled in his fights against Dodoria and Zarbon combined. After slaughtering Freeza’s generals, he’d known he finally had what it took to get his revenge. He’d felt it in his _bones_.

Beneath the noise of pattering rocks and settling ground, Vegeta heard a new sound. It was quiet at first, but grew louder as he strained to catch it. No. No it _couldn’t_ be. It was the sound of Freeza’s laughter. 

Vegeta’s heart felt like a hand was squeezing it inside his chest. As often as he’d dreamed of murdering Freeza, just as often he had nightmares like this. Nightmares where he’d given everything, nearly killed himself pouring ki into his attacks, only for Freeza to survive it. Worse still were the dreams where he did win, only for Freeza’s mangled corpse to open its eyes and rise to its feet. Vegeta didn’t even notice that he’d backed away. Freeza was strolling toward him through the cloud of dust, completely unscathed.

‘You know, until just now I didn’t believe the reports that said you managed to kill both Dodoria and Zarbon. I’m almost impressed,’ Freeza remarked.

Vegeta’s lips peeled back from his teeth, half in threat, half in terror. He planted his feet. There must be something more to draw on, more energy, more power. He was the Prince of all Saiyans! He wasn’t going to die here.

Freeza shot forward, moving too fast for Vegeta to even see him, let alone stop. Pain tore through him. He barely recognised it as a strike to his solar plexus. His entire body ached. Freeza slowed down again, circling around Vegeta with a lazy stride. ‘But you can’t stand against me. I am more powerful than you can even comprehend.’

Vegeta turned, keeping Freeza in sight. There would be an opening, a chance, he just had to stay focused. Freeza darted in again and Vegeta tried to block. Freeza was fast enough that he could have avoided the block. Instead, there was a crack and Vegeta howled as his arm broke under Freeza’s strike. Another blur of movement and fresh pain lanced through Vegeta’s head.

Vegeta blinked. He was on the ground. His arm throbbed in time with his pulse. There was a metallic taste in his mouth and he spat blood. He didn’t even remember falling. The blurry shape in his field of vision resolved into Freeza’s foot. Sudden pressure wrapped around Vegeta’s neck and he scrabbled reflexively at the tail wrapped around his throat. His broken arm protested the movement and the pain was strong enough to make his vision swim.

Vegeta’s feet kicked weakly as Freeza lifted him into the air. At least he could still breathe. It took him a couple of tries to focus his eyes. For some reason they felt wet and blurry. Freeza was watching him with a mildly curious expression. 

Vegeta stopped struggling. He didn’t have the energy for it. All his life he’d been struggling and training and nursing elaborate revenge fantasies. And where had that gotten him? He was stronger than any member of Freeza’s army now and it still wasn’t enough. Tears rolled down Vegeta’s cheeks, and he couldn’t even control that. 

‘Have you finally gotten it out of your system, then?’ Freeza asked. Vegeta stared at him blankly. Freeza rolled his eyes. ‘Your desire to pit yourself against me. Do you finally understand that you’re weaker than me, not because you’re a child or inexperienced or whatever excuse you tell yourself, but simply because I am that much stronger. You’ve had the privilege of seeing my true form and you’ve felt its power. I will _always_ be stronger than you.’ 

Vegeta squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out Freeza’s expression. It would have been better if he’d looked smug or self-satisfied, instead his gaze was flat and cold, utterly implacable. The truth of his words lanced through Vegeta more deeply than the pain.

‘Do you understand?’ Freeza asked.

Vegeta grit his teeth.

Freeza sighed and dropped him. Pain flared through Vegeta’s body as he hit the ground. ‘Get up, on your knees,’ Freeza commanded. ‘If you’re going to be my new general, you’re going to at least give a new loyalty oath.’

Vegeta’s head whipped up. It took him a moment to focus. ‘What… what are you talking about?’ he croaked.

‘My new general. You killed both Dodoria and Zarbon, which means I have the position available. And after your little performance, I don’t think anyone could call you unqualified. You’re probably my most powerful soldier now. Congratulations.’

Vegeta stared at him blankly. ‘What makes you think I would _ever_ agree…’

Freeza’s thin lips curled upward. ‘What choice do you have? You don’t have anywhere to go and you never _have_. You and your little cohort took an unapproved two-year-long jaunt to some backwater. I didn’t care. You all could have deserted and I wouldn’t have bothered to track you down. But you came back. You will always come back, Vegeta, because you don’t have anything else. You belong in my army and, on some level, I think you know that.’

‘I could go back to Earth. There’s another saiyan there,’ Vegeta said. 

Freeza barked a laugh. ‘And how long before you killed that one too, like you killed your own bodyguard? All you know is destruction and I’m the only one who has a use for that.’ Vegeta looked away. Freeza crouched down and grabbed Vegeta’s chin, forcing him to meet his eyes. ‘I’ve always had a soft spot for you, Vegeta, but if you defy me on this I _will_ kill you.’

Vegeta shivered. A part of him was disgusted by his own fear, but he didn’t want to die. Not like this. ‘I accept,’ he said, voice barely above a whisper. 

Freeza smiled down at him. ‘Good.’ He stood up. ‘The loyalty oath is the same as the usual one, with a couple of extra sentences. You can repeat after me.’

Vegeta sneered. ‘And we both know how well I kept the original one. What does it even matter if I swear again?’

Freeza’s smile sharpened. ‘I don’t expect someone like _you_ to value your own word, but I want to hear you say it. And I want you to _know_ that you’ve said it. Now do you need help, or can you get to your knees?’

Vegeta grit his teeth and pulled himself up to his knees. His vision spun again, but he made it. He wasn’t about to accept help from Freeza.

‘Impressive,’ Freeza murmured. ‘Alright, repeat after me.’

Vegeta repeated the oath, feeling it stirring his hate just as much as it had the last time. The worst thing was that even though he didn’t mean it, there was some kind of power in saying it, in hearing himself say it. Disgust churned in him even harder. 

‘Good. We’re going back to my ship where I can coordinate the Dragon Ball hunt properly. You need a healing tank. Think you can get there under your own power?’ Freeza asked.

‘No,’ Vegeta admitted through his clenched teeth. 

‘Very well.’ 

Vegeta’s field of vision tilted wildly as Freeza picked him up. A fresh wave of pain slammed into him and he blacked out. Thankfully it meant he didn’t have to remember the flight back to Freeza’s ship.

///

Vegeta lay on the bed in his new quarters and stared at the ceiling. He’d been released from Medical only hours ago and been directed to a new suite of rooms on a higher deck. They were big and luxuriously appointed. He hoped they hadn’t belonged to either of Freeza’s ex-generals, but Vegeta couldn’t pick up any scents to indicate previous occupants and he trusted his nose. 

The Namek mission had been a success, according to the doctors in Medical. Freeza had found the Dragon Balls and succeeded in wishing himself immortal. It was beyond hopeless now. Vegeta’s defeat and the healing had made him stronger again, but even if he became a thousand, _a million_ , times stronger it wouldn’t matter. Freeza now _couldn’t_ be killed. And he’d have had to been an idiot not to destroy the Dragon Balls after a wish like that, as far as Vegeta was concerned. His revenge had been snatched away forever.

He probably would have stayed where he was for hours more, but hunger started gnawing at him. Whatever they did to sustain him in Medical wasn’t the same as eating. Hunger was the only force capable of breaking through the bleak despair. Vegeta hauled himself upright and made his way to the mess hall. The door to his quarters locked itself behind him. 

When Vegeta entered the mess hall the raucous conversation ground to a halt for several heartbeats. He ignored the various sets of eyes fixed on him and made his way to the food station. The conversation picked back up. Nothing was capable of shutting up Freeza’s troops for long. Vegeta caught bits of conversation happening around him. 

‘Heard he killed Dodoria _and_ Zarbon…’

‘… _ate_ the corpses.’

‘Freeza was so impressed he offered him the job.’

‘Even when he was a child…’

‘ - attacked _Freeza_ \- ’

‘…really working for Cooler all along.’

‘What’s he doing here?’

Vegeta grabbed a plate and started piling food on it, mostly choosing energy-dense options. 

‘Uh… sir?’ someone piped up near his elbow.

Vegeta turned to look at the alien. It was some kind of insect creature and it was holding a ladle. ‘What?’ Vegeta grunted.

‘Um, wouldn’t you prefer to eat in the officers’ mess, sir. It’s on E deck.’ It gestured vaguely upwards with one of its free limbs. 

Vegeta glanced back at it. ‘This is fine,’ he said shortly and finished stacking his plate. The alien cringed away and went back to the kitchen area. Vegeta took his plate to the nearest unoccupied table and started working his way through the pile of food mechanically. 

A shadow fell over his plate and Vegeta looked up. The alien standing over him was big and furry. Vegeta automatically noted the fangs and claws and the way its musculature was almost visible beneath its thick pelt. ‘What?’ he asked between bites.

‘I hear you’re Freeza’s new general, but that can’t be right. You’re just that weakling saiyan kid. No way _you_ killed Dodoria and Zarbon.’

Vegeta growled, but went back to his plate. He could sense the alien’s power level, even without his scouter, and it wasn’t worth the effort of even standing up. Then one meaty paw slammed down on the table in front of him, the force of the blow jolting the table and overturning Vegeta’s plate. Anger surged in Vegeta, rising hotter and more intense than usual. Brawls in the mess hall were frequent and meant nothing, but when Vegeta leapt up, the only thing on his mind was hurting the pathetic excuse for a soldier that had _dared_ to interrupt him. The craving for blood and victory felt like the roar of an entire ocean, obliterating everything. 

Vegeta’s foot lashed out and the strike had enough force to send the alien flying across the hall. It crashed into the wall and slid down, groaning. Vegeta launched himself after the alien and kicked it in the face. He heard the sound of bone breaking and his lips peeled back from his teeth in something like a grin. Blood welled up from his opponent’s broken face and Vegeta planted a boot on its neck. A ball of ki formed in his hand and it was more than strong enough to end this. ‘Tell me, do you think Freeza would even care if I killed you right now?’ Vegeta asked with a snarl. Bloodlust and a deeper kind of satisfaction curled through him as the alien whimpered.

‘No, no, no, please, no, mercy, no!’ the alien pleaded.

‘I didn’t think so either,’ Vegeta said. He teetered on the edge for a moment, but the rage was fading in the face of such pathetic begging. There was no point in killing someone so clearly beneath his power level. He was in control. The ball of ki in his palm faded and he went back to the food station to get a new plate. The rest of the soldiers scrambled to get out of his way and Vegeta smirked to himself. They should cringe from him. For the first time in his life, he was strong enough to kill everyone in this hall. It wouldn’t even be hard.

He was just about done with his third helping of food when a runner burst into the mess hall. She skidded to a stop in front of Vegeta’s table. ‘Sir, you left your scouter in your quarters. Freeza’s been trying to contact you. You’re summoned to his office on B deck.’

Vegeta scowled and even the way the runner flinched wasn’t enough to make him feel better. ‘Fine. Give me your scouter.’ The runner hesitated but handed it over. ‘You have Freeza’s channel?’

‘First one on the list, sir.’

Vegeta sent a brief acknowledgement along the command channel and got up. He’d only been as high as B deck once, so he accessed the scouter’s map. There was a flight shaft not far from the mess hall, which made life easier. The conversation dropped again when Vegeta made his way through the hall. 

B deck felt different than the rest of the battle station and Vegeta’s shoulderblades itched. It felt like he was being watched or that at any moment someone would spring out of nowhere to throw him out. He had to remind himself that he was stronger now. Stronger than anyone except… 

When Vegeta reached Freeza’s office, he pressed his hand against the lock and the door slid open. Freeza was already seated on one side of a huge desk. He was back to his usual form and talking to another alien seated between the desk and the doorway. His gaze flicked over to Vegeta. ‘So nice of you to finally join us. Forget your scouter, did you?’ Freeza asked, a dangerous note coiling beneath his words.

For a moment Vegeta couldn’t speak. He was overwhelmed by the tide of hate rising inside him. A heartbeat later an accompanying wave of fear crashed into it. He was usually better at controlling it, keeping it buried deep where it could drive him instead of paralysing him like this. Images of Freeza’s laughing face and the old ghost of pain rose in Vegeta’s mind. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, forcing it all down. ‘I was only down at the mess hall.’

‘Well keep it on you from now on. As a general you’ll need to be immediately contactable at any time. And what were you doing in the mess hall anyway?’

‘Eating.’

‘Starting fights,’ the alien sitting opposite Freeza murmured.

‘Finishing fights,’ he corrected with a sneer. He was almost glad for the opportunity to focus on someone else. Someone _weak_.

‘With our own troops,’ the alien added snidely. ‘Lovely.’

Freeza pressed two fingers to his forehead and sighed. ‘There’s an officers’ mess. Act your rank and eat there. My army maintains a strict sense of hierarchy for a reason.’ He looked up again. ‘Oh, and this is…’ Freeza gestured in the alien’s direction and paused.

‘Tosh, my lord.’

‘Yes, Administrator Tosh. She came highly recommended from Resource Management and I’ve given her Dodoria’s old position. Tosh, this is General Vegeta. He’s taken over Zarbon’s old position.’

‘Is she hiding her power level?’ Vegeta asked. 

Tosh gave him an unfriendly smile that bared her pointy teeth.

‘If I want something killed, I’ll order you to do it,’ Freeza said. ‘If I want paperwork done I’ll order her.’

Vegeta grunted.

‘I’ve summoned you both to let you know that I’ll be personally overseeing the conquest of the planet Dithio in the Tetraac sector. Vegeta, you’ll accompany me on the ground. Tosh, I want you to organise the ships and personnel. We’ll need heavy-hitters that aren’t reliant on energy manipulation.’ 

‘Yes, my lord,’ said Tosh as she bent over her datapad.

‘When do we leave?’ Vegeta asked.

‘Tosh?’

‘Two days to get that many ships resupplied and refuelled. Heavy-hitters will need some of the bigger battleships and they need touch-ups from the last mission,’ Tosh replied. ‘I can get together a report about the planet in a few hours.’ 

‘At the beginning of the first shift three days from now,’ said Freeza. ‘Dismissed.’

///

Another explosion on the ground flung soldiers and debris across the battlefield. Vegeta watched the carnage and seethed. He was stationed beside Freeza’s hovering throne and he’d been _ordered_ to stay out of the fray. Vegeta told himself that it wouldn’t have been that fun in the thick of the battle. The natives weren’t powerful and instead had built huge war machines to defend themselves. Their machines were heavily armoured in a unique alloy that resisted ki. The precious alloy was the reason Freeza had brought his forces here in the first place.

With his bloodlust riding so high, it was hard to remember why he should fear Freeza at all. He wanted to _fight_. ‘I could tear apart those things in half the time it’s taking your whole battalion. Send me down!’ Vegeta demanded for what felt like the hundredth time. He was a saiyan elite and he was being _wasted_ on bodyguard duty. It wasn’t as if Freeza even needed protection. 

‘Stop acting like a child and pay attention,’ Freeza hissed. ‘You’re a general. Look at the battlefield and tell me what you see.’

‘That your forces are pathetic weaklings. That the natives here are pathetic weaklings that can’t even do their own fighting and that I should be down there _ending this_.’

Freeza gave him a cold look. ‘Did you even read the intelligence report Tosh sent through?’

‘No,’ Vegeta said through his gritted teeth.

Freeza turned toward the battlefield and pointed. ‘The mechs are pulling back, but that’s a coordinated retreat, not a rout, and the organisation goes beyond what you’d even expect from remote-controlled machines. They’re deliberately drawing my forces into that valley.’

Vegeta was barely listening. He took a half-step forward, preparing to launch himself into the battle, orders or not. Freeza’s hand shot out and clamped around his arm. Those pointed claws dug into Vegeta’s flesh even through his armour.

‘I didn’t think I’d have to remind you that you’re only alive because of my mercy _quite_ this early,’ Freeza said conversationally.

Vegeta turned to face him, a snarl building in his throat. His skin felt clammy and his pulse was racing, but he couldn’t back down, couldn’t–

Freeza’s ki blast caught him squarely in the chest and the grip on his arm loosened at just the right moment that Vegeta couldn’t control his fall. He hit the ground. His armour was singed from the blast, but still whole. Freeza’s energy had surged when he’d attacked and the feel of strong ki hung in the air.

Vegeta got to his feet slowly, warily. ‘As I was saying, _look_ ,’ Freeza repeated.

Vegeta reluctantly turned to face the battle again. There was a blur of movement in the distance. Whatever it was, it was closing on the battlefield quickly. ‘What are those?’ he asked, straining to make out the shapes.

‘Air support,’ said Freeza. ‘That’s why you’re here and not on the ground. I don’t have many heavy-hitters that can physically tear through machines that big and also fly fast enough to actually catch them.’

Vegeta’s heart rate had picked up again and the corners of his mouth lifted. ‘How many are there?’ he asked.

‘Only a hundred or so. They’re expensive to produce and they’re all yours. Try and finish them before they start strafing my ground troops, will you?’ Freeza said with a smirk.

Vegeta found himself grinning back. The prospect of a real fight sent a shiver of anticipation through him. It wouldn’t be the sort of bloody carnage he favoured, but it would be a _challenge_. ‘Of course,’ he scoffed. 

Freeza’s smirk broadened. ‘Go.’

Vegeta shot off toward the air machines, elation rising as he closed in. He nearly collided with the first machine. It didn’t correct its course to avoid him. A fierce grin pulled at Vegeta’s lips. The dull machines didn’t know to fear him yet. Whatever was controlling them would soon learn. 

Vegeta flew up above their flight pattern and then plummeted down, putting on an extra burst of speed just before he reached the first one. He couldn’t use ki to blast, but its energy flooded his body, giving him the strength and resilience to tear right through the craft. Wires snapped and sparked around him as he flew clean through the body of the machine. It was also clearly unpiloted. A pity. 

When he hit the open sky again, Vegeta turned in mid-air and shot back up, angling his path through the next target. He’d destroyed a dozen of them before the dull things recognised the threat and started firing at him. That was when things got interesting. Their weapons were some kind of energy beams and the machine’s armour made them resistant to their own blasts. In seconds the sky was bright with enemy fire. Vegeta squinted. In a bid to clear the sky, he grabbed one of the machines and threw it into several of its companions. 

The machines exploded, sending chunks of the alloy scything through the sky. Vegeta bellowed in rage as a piece of shrapnel opened a gash on his arm. His ki flared higher as the scent of his own blood hit him. He tore apart the next machine with his bare hands. There had to be a better way. 

Vegeta realised he was surrounded. Every one of the remaining flying machines was focused entirely on him. He smirked as an idea occurred to him. Drawing on every scrap of speed he had, Vegeta shot toward the closest machine. He planned his trajectory carefully, so he ripped through the one next to it as well. It took a huge amount of focus to remember his position in space, but he was faster than the machines and infinitely more manoeuvrable. And they’d made the mistake of _surrounding_ him. 

Vegeta flew in a widening spiral, angling up and then curving down to move through all three dimensions. The machines were hovering too close together and debris from the ones he destroyed choked the sky so that they couldn’t fly out of the way quickly enough. 

Vegeta was aching by the time he burst through the last machine. His armour was battered, singed and even torn in places. He hung in mid-air, panting. The sky was his. Fierce triumph surged in him and threw his head back and laughed. It had been far too long since he’d had this kind of victory. 

Below him was a great field of debris from the flying machines. The very edges of it ran up against the enemy’s ground machines. Most of them were smoking heaps of twisted metal now. It looked like Freeza’s weakling soldiers had at least done their job. Vegeta flew down toward the middle of the army, ready to throw himself at any remaining machines. When he touched down, the soldiers around him pointed and started cheering. Vegeta looked up, nonplussed. That had never happened before, but he supposed he had managed to keep the air machines occupied by giving them an _important_ target.

Vegeta straightened up and folded his arms. He smirked as he soaked up the applause. Adulation from weaklings was still adulation, and it was only his due as the strongest among them.


	2. Chapter 2

When Vegeta got back to the battle station, he started toward the barracks on K deck. The scent of burning lingered in his hair and clothes, strong enough to even overpower the hints of his own spilled blood, and he wanted to wash it away. He slowed once he reached the nearest flight shaft. There wasn’t a place for him on K deck anymore. The old rooms that he, Raditz and Nappa shared would have been reassigned. He had his own quarters on the officer deck now and the sprawling suite of rooms was bound to have its own cleansing facilities. 

Frowning to himself, Vegeta flew up to D deck and activated the map on his scouter. He still wasn’t familiar with the layout of the place and even when he got to the right door he didn’t recognise it. But the lock disengaged at a touch from his palm and this time Vegeta paid more attention as he crossed the entrance space. There were soft-looking seats clustered around a low table and there was a desk against one wall. It was also eerily quiet. 

For most of his life Vegeta had been surrounded by other soldiers, or at the very least the other two surviving saiyans. Here, he was utterly alone. Vegeta felt his shoulders loosen. His ki, always close to the surface and ready to be drawn on in a heartbeat, faded back. It felt like something deep inside him was uncoiling.

Beyond the entrance room were a few other rooms, all equipped with more furniture than he’d ever use. Taken together, the rooms probably took up as much space as the entire dorm in the K deck barracks. The cleansing room was connected to the bedroom and Vegeta stripped off his battered armour and walked in. It was warmer than he’d expected and he lingered over the shower.

Vegeta had just finished drying off when there was a ping at his door. He frowned again, trying to remember the last time he’d been bothered just after a mission. His armour was barely fit to wear and he cast about the bedroom for an alternative. Someone had put a selection of off-duty uniforms in one of the cupboards. He sneered at the thin material but pulled on a set, making a note to head over to the quartermaster and pick up replacement armour as soon as possible. 

The ping had come from a runner. He took a step back and cringed when Vegeta opened the door. ‘General Vegeta sir, a gift from Lord Freeza,’ said the runner. He thrust a box out as far as his arm would reach. 

Vegeta recoiled and bared his teeth. The runner flinched, but kept holding the box out. When the box did nothing more sinister than sit there, Vegeta slowly reached out and took it. If it was some sort of trap, it wasn’t a clever one. ‘My title is _Prince_ Vegeta,’ he told the runner. 

‘Yes sir, Prince Vegeta.’

Vegeta took the box into his quarters, pleased when the door automatically locked behind him. There was a note on the box: _A token from Dithio. I thought you might want a memento._

The note was unsigned. Inside the box was a piece of the ki-resistant alloy. The metal was bent and twisted into a pleasant curled shape. Vegeta picked it up, turning it over in his hands. It felt denser than he’d expected and the surface was near frictionless. He pressed his thumb against one of the jagged edges. It was sharp enough to cut.

It was obviously a piece of one of those flying machines. The question was whether Vegeta had made the shape when he’d torn apart the machine in the middle of combat or if Freeza had shaped it later. The other more obvious question was why he’d been given it at all. 

A token. A memento. He put it back in the box and then blasted the whole thing with ki. The box vaporised, leaving a dark smear across the surface of his front room’s table. The alloy was predictably unscathed. A grin tugged at the corner of Vegeta’s mouth. He decided to leave it where it was so he’d see it whenever he came in. It wasn’t as if he had any other use for the tables that littered his quarters.

///

Vegeta was left to his own devices for several days. Even hitting the rank of general hadn’t changed that. With the number of people in Freeza’s army, most of the time was spent waiting for orders rather than going on missions. As soon as he could, Vegeta headed to the quartermaster for a new set of armour. He hated off-duty clothes and their complete lack of protection, but walking through the space station with his useless armour in hand wasn’t nearly as bad as he remembered it. Soldiers mostly travelled in a group of three or so, but Vegeta didn’t feel the lack of Raditz and Nappa at his shoulder. When he closed in on a group of three green aliens their leader scanned him and quickly ushered the other two to the edge of the corridor right out of his way. He flashed them his teeth as he passed and they just ducked their big, horned heads. Everyone he passed got out of his way. Whispers and stares followed him all the way to the quartermaster, especially after people scanned him.

The quartermaster’s office was as dimly lit as usual and Vegeta crossed over to the desk and shoved his damaged armour onto the desk. A pair of glowing red eyes appeared from the back room behind the desk and the deeper patch of shadows resolved into the many-limbed body of Quartermaster Drul. 

‘My armour got half-shredded in my last mission. I need a new one,’ Vegeta said.

Drul made an odd clicking noise. ‘General Vegeta now.’ 

‘ _Prince_ Vegeta, but yes. I’ve been… promoted.’

One long forelimb, tipped with blunt claws, hooked into the front of Vegeta’s armour and dragged it back behind the desk. ‘How many?’ Drul asked.

‘How many what?’ Vegeta asked. 

‘How many armour sets for you?’ she clarified. 

Vegeta blinked. You got issued one set of armour. You could grab as many pieces of off-duty wear from the laundry as you liked, but armour was tracked. Unless you were a general, perhaps. ‘How many _can_ I have?’ he asked warily. 

Drul shrugged her massive shoulders, the spines catching what little light there was in the room. ‘Many.’

‘Give me five sets,’ Vegeta said after a moment. 

Drul stared at him for a moment before turning around and slouching off to the backroom. She returned a few moments later carrying out five identical armour sets. They hit the desk with a dull thud. Vegeta picked one up and tested it in his hands. It felt the same as his old one, the same weight, the same level of give and sturdiness. ‘Is there better armour? For generals?’ he asked.

Drul made that clicking noise again. ‘All armour same armour,’ she said.

Vegeta grunted. He supposed Dodoria and Zarbon’s armour hadn’t seemed any different when he’d killed them. Hell, Freeza’s armour looked about the same as everyone else’s. 

Vegeta was about to grab the other sets of armour when a thought occurred to him. ‘Can I change here?’ he asked.

Drul was silent for a long moment. Then she made a long hissing noise. ‘Do what you like, _Prince_ Vegeta.’ Her accent was even more pronounced on the foreign title. She turned around and made her away into the back room, closing the door behind her.

Vegeta pulled off his clothes, pleased with the knowledge that five sets of armour meant that he’d never need to be in pathetic civilian wear again if he chose. 

///

With free time on his hands, Vegeta quickly got restless. A fair bit of entertainment material circulated in the barracks, but he hadn’t cared enough to track down how officers got their hands on that kind of thing. Presumably he could just hit any of the lower deck barracks and demand the weaklings hand over their books or vids. No one would dare refuse a power-level like his, at least not after he demonstrated what he’d do. However, that kind of entertainment was mostly useful when he was exhausted. Training was the only worthwhile use of his time. 

Vegeta activated his scouter’s map and searched around for the high-deck training rooms. There were facilities on most of the decks, starting as low as the lowest-level barracks and dorms on deck M. There were also training rooms placed as high as C deck. That was probably where the highest-ranked, most powerful individuals trained. Back when he’d been a K deck soldier, he’d sometimes visited training rooms as high as those on deck J and even I once or twice. He’d always needed to visit Medical after those trips, but it had made him stronger so it was worth it. Now he wondered if even those soldiers who trained on C deck would be able to challenge him.

There were a handful of officers in the biggest C deck training room. There was also a lot of interesting looking equipment, which might be worth using. Vegeta focused on his ki and felt for the power levels in the room. If what he felt was true there wasn’t anyone here who would provide an interesting fight. Disappointing. 

‘You, all of you!’ Vegeta called out to the room. ‘Get out.’ Every set of eyes turned to him. There were looks of disbelief and at least a few of naked dislike. Vegeta set his stance and grinned as his ki rose in him. A challenge like that would definitely set someone off. Instead, they all stopped what they were doing and started moving toward the door. 

‘What are you all doing?!’ Vegeta demanded. 

‘Uh… following orders?’ a big scaly one said.

Vegeta gaped at them all. Sure he outranked them all, but that never stopped tempers flaring and brawls breaking out on the lower decks. Vegeta had fought people that outranked him all the time. They were usually the only ones who could provide a challenge. He’d even picked specific individuals a couple of steps above him and fought with them until he surpassed them. It was a long painful process, but it was what had dragged him up from a low-rank grunt to an elite. 

Vegeta’s mouth snapped shut. ‘Fine. You, you and you, stay here,’ he said pointing out the three strongest soldiers he could sense, ‘the rest of you get out and maybe try growing a spine.’ One of the insectoid aliens that probably didn’t even _have_ a spine made an irate high-pitched buzzing noise, but didn’t try striking him at all. Pathetic.

The three officers he’d picked out stood in front of him. Only one of them was scowling at him. The other two just looked awkward and avoided his eyes. Vegeta sighed to himself. ‘You’re all going to fight me. Put up a good enough fight and maybe I wont put you all in Medical for being disgraceful weaklings,’ he taunted. The scowling one scowled harder and one of the others took a reflexive step back. Weren’t threats enough? If someone had said that to him back then, he’d have been at their throat whatever their power level. 

Vegeta dropped into the most open fighting stance he had, trying to make the invitation as clear as possible. The scowling one charged him and thankfully the other two weren’t too far behind. 

///

Vegeta nudged one of his splayed opponents with his boot. The fight had been dissatisfying. The closest thing to a challenge had been when one of them had kicked him right where his tail would have been. It hadn’t stopped him, but the sensation was unpleasant enough that he’d hit the offender hard enough to take them out of the rest of the fight. He hadn’t even intended to carry out his threat, but the weakness of all three fighters had gotten under his skin. This one was still conscious. 

‘This training room is mine now. Spread the word to the rest of the officers and make it clear that this is the place to come for anyone or any group that thinks they can offer me a challenge.’

The alien groaned and rolled over away from Vegeta. ‘Yes sir,’ it said. 

Vegeta grunted. Hopefully this would get him an actual challenge. His scouter beeped and Vegeta started. He wasn’t used to anyone trying to contact him personally. It was a message from Freeza ordering him up to B deck, of course. Vegeta scowled and sent a terse message back saying he’d be there shortly.

Freeza was alone when Vegeta entered his office. He was reading through some paperwork, but set it aside and gestured for Vegeta to sit. ‘Are you bored?’ Freeza asked.

Vegeta blinked. ‘No,’ he answered warily.

Freeza stared at him for a long moment. Then he retrieved three files and spread them across the desk between them. ‘I have some options for your next mission. All of these planets are ripe for conquest and of roughly equal strategic value. Take your pick. The others will be assigned to larger groups. You’re the only one I have capable of purging targets like these ones alone.’

Vegeta hesitated. He’d never been given _choices_ like this. ‘Why do you want me to choose?’

Freeza drummed his fingers against the desk and seemed to be considering his words. ‘Because I… hmm.’ He paused again. ‘What exactly do you _want_ , Vegeta?’

This time Vegeta stared at him. He fought the urge to point out the obvious. It would be stupid to even think it, let alone say it out loud. He lost the fight. ‘You know what I want,’ he said, an involuntary snarl edging into his words.

Vegeta flinched when Freeza stood suddenly, but he just looked amused. ‘I’m immortal now, so that particular desire is beyond your reach.’ Vegeta stood too, his fists clenched at his sides. ‘So apart from the impossible, what do you want?’

Those red eyes bored into his and Vegeta tried to think of an answer. For almost the entirety of his life his one goal had been to kill Freeza and avenge his people, his planet, his _birthright_. But that wasn’t an option anymore. What was even left for him now? ‘To get stronger,’ he finally said.

Freeza cocked his head to one side. ‘Well, I’ve certainly seen you working toward that, but if you can’t kill me, why bother?’

Vegeta opened his mouth to reply, but he didn’t have an answer. Being strong meant better conditions. It meant winning every brawl and being able to pick fights at his leisure and most of all it meant not having to swallow his pride every time he faced a stronger soldier. But he was the strongest person in this place now. And Freeza… Freeza didn’t _count_. He was immortal. ‘To win. So I can do what I want. So no one can stop me.’

Freeza gave a slow smile and circled around the edge of the desk until he was standing in front of Vegeta. ‘Hmm, it sounds like you want power.’

Vegeta frowned. He hadn’t quite thought of it that way. ‘Maybe.’

‘Perfectly understandable. But while I can certainly admire the quest for the sort of power that can punch through someone’s chest or level a planet, there are other kinds of power too. Arguably better kinds.’

Vegeta wasn't stupid and he knew where this was going. He was the Prince of all Saiyans. He knew about the power that came from ruling. That had been his purpose, once. ‘I had that kind of power,’ Vegeta snapped. ‘Before _you_ – ’ he cut himself off. This was still dangerous, Freeza was dangerous, and one wrong move could cost him what little he had left.

Freeza waved the comment away. ‘You would have had a planet to rule, at most. I’m offering you an opportunity for something much vaster. Something that might even satisfy that ravenous pit of hunger you call a soul.’ He gestured toward the files. ‘This solo mission is for your amusement. It’s something to help take the edge off that saiyan bloodlust. But you are more than that. You call yourself a Prince? So rule. You are my general and I want you to _command_. Learn about the kind of power you think you were born with, but know that you’ve actually managed to _earn_ it here.’

Vegeta’s pulse was thundering in his ears. The way Freeza looked at him made him feel flayed. It felt the same way it did when he’d lost and Freeza had had him by the throat and wouldn’t stop _talking_ , like he knew, like he could see something in Vegeta, beneath the skin and muscle. Like something written on his bones. 

Vegeta looked away first and turned to face the desk instead. He kept Freeza in his peripheral vision. ‘Tell me about these missions,’ he said. ‘Which one is the most likely to give me a real fight?’

Freeza smiled and reached across the desk to flip open a folder with a claw. ‘I think you might find Trisk to your liking.’

///

Vegeta stood opposite the door to the officers’ mess hall. Even after Freeza’s initial orders about “acting his rank”, he’d kept going to the common mess on K deck. He’d wanted to see what would happen when he disobeyed. There hadn’t been any consequences. Freeza either hadn’t known, or more likely, hadn’t cared. Vegeta told himself that the only reason he was here now was to see if there were any officers worth challenging. No one had taken up his invitation to fight in the C deck training room yet and he was getting restless. The mission he’d picked had better give him as much of a challenge as Freeza promised. 

It was quieter in the officers’ mess. The tables were smaller and further apart. The energy levels of the other officers were disappointing. Vegeta looked around, but couldn’t see a food station. At one of the tables an officer beckoned to him. Vegeta hesitated for a moment but wandered over. The officer’s power-level wasn’t even close to Vegeta’s but it wasn’t a complete embarrassment, either. At the very least, he might get some answers here.

‘You’re the new general. Vegeta was it?’

‘Yes. Where’s the food station?’

‘There isn’t one.’ The officer waved a hand in the air. 

Moments later someone hurried out of the kitchen area. ‘Yes, Commander Spire?’ the new alien said.

Spire ignored the alien completely. ‘You place an order with one of the kitchen staff and they replicate it up and bring it to you. They can get you almost anything. We’ve got replication data from a lot of conquered planets and the staff here are good enough to fill in most of the gaps.’

Vegeta frowned. That sounded inefficient. He turned toward the kitchen alien. ‘I don’t care. Make whatever. Something energy-dense and lots of it.’

The alien frowned back and fiddled with its scouter. ‘Hmm, mammal, primate, saiyan. Energy-dense food. One moment, Gener– Prince Vegeta.’ The alien turned back to Spire. ‘Anything else for you, Commander?’

Spire handed her empty cup over. ‘Another of the same.’

The alien took the cup and scurried back to the kitchen. Vegeta watched it leave.

‘Is it true you _ate_ Zarbon and Dodoria?’ Spire asked with a grin. Her teeth were very white against the dark blue of her face.

Vegeta’s lip twitched. ‘Unfortunately I had more important things to do at the time.’

She barked a laugh. ‘It’s still unusual for someone to rise as far and as fast as you did. Even if Freeza had his eye on you.’

Vegeta scowled. ‘Check your scouter.’

Spire raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, if you’re inviting.’ She fiddled with her scouter for a few moments and Vegeta waited. Her expression froze when she read his power level. ‘I see.’ She looked a lot less friendly now.

Vegeta smirked. Then the rest of what Spire had said caught up with him. ‘What do you mean Freeza “had his eye” on me?’

They were interrupted by the return of the kitchen alien. It was carrying a large tray of food with three of its upper limbs. The fourth one held a fresh cup. The alien placed the items on the table and hurried off. Spire didn’t even glance at it.

Vegeta eyed the tray. The scent rising off the food was unusual and Vegeta was surprised find himself salivating. He picked up the cutlery and started shovelling food into his mouth. He had to stop a few bites in. Whatever this was, it was the best thing he’d ever tasted. He drew the plate in closer to himself and looked up from it just long enough to shoot a glare at Spire and bare his teeth. 

She sneered at him and held up her hands. ‘No one’s going to try and take it from you. This isn’t the common mess.’

Vegeta grunted and immediately went back to eating. He was actually disappointed when he’d finished the food. A thought occurred to him and he raised a hand to wave like he’d seen Spire do. The kitchen alien returned. ‘Was that to your liking, Prince Vegeta?’

‘Yes. I want six more.’

The alien hesitated. ‘Six more… trays?’

Vegeta stared back steadily. ‘Yes.’

‘As-as you wish.’ It left again.

Spire eyed him. ‘You know you don't have to hoard, right? They prefer you not to take dishes out of here.’

‘Six more is about right for one meal for me,’ Vegeta explained. He knew saiyans were unusual in how much energy they burned through, even among Freeza’s army.

He couldn’t read the look Spire gave him in response. ‘I guess now I know where the eating Dodoria and Zarbon rumours came from,’ she muttered.

Vegeta didn’t bother correcting her.

///

The solo mission was everything Freeza had promised. The planet’s inhabitants had a caste system and their top-tier warrior class had held out for hours, even against Vegeta’s full strength. There was nothing else like a real fight, when you could see the fear blossom in the eyes of your enemies in that moment when they knew they couldn’t win. If he focused, he could almost still hear the screams. 

When his ship hit the docking bay, Vegeta climbed out and grabbed the helmet he’d taken from the leader of the forces he’d destroyed on Trisk. He headed for his rooms, looking forward to washing the last of the blood away. Then he’d hit the officers’ mess and after that maybe see if anyone wanted to pit themselves against him in the training room he’d claimed on C deck. After the battle on Trisk, some sparring would be just the thing to wind down properly.

Vegeta slapped his palm against his room’s lock and entered. His shoulders loosened as the door re-locked behind him. He tore off his scouter and threw it onto his bed as he passed and placed the helmet down on one of the useless tables. It looked good sitting there and the reminder of that final confrontation made him grin. He stripped off his armour and cleaned up quickly. The hunger was becoming more urgent and he was looking forward to getting some real food. What little he’d eaten of the inhabitants of Trisk had had an unpleasant, vaguely acidic aftertaste.

Vegeta was pulling on a fresh set of armour when there was a beeping noise off to his left. The next room over from his bedroom had a desk in it with a screen. It was the screen making the sound and a light near its base was flashing. Vegeta activated it and Freeza’s face appeared. 

‘I assume you took off your scouter,’ Freeza said. 

Vegeta frowned. ‘Yes.’ 

‘Well, this is probably more practical anyway. Tosh sent through a report on the next mission that you’ll be accompanying me on. It’s another high-tech world and the goal will be minimal infrastructure damage. That means ground troops only, no bombardment, and low tech on our end. I expect you to read the report _thoroughly_. I also expect you to actually command soldiers this time. Do you think you can manage that?’

Vegeta bared his teeth, but it was the burn of challenge, rather than anger or fear that drove it. ‘Of course. I was born to lead.’

Freeza smirked at him. ‘We’ll see. I heard about your success on the Trisk mission. Was it all you hoped it would be?’

Vegeta’s mind flashed back to the moment when he’d been grappling with the last remains of the Trisk military. Their leader had been strong and seemed to soak up whatever Vegeta could hit it with. But resilience wasn’t the same as invincibility and Vegeta had torn its head off at the end. That had been a gesture of respect. He’d have blasted a lesser enemy with ki. ‘It was.’

‘Good. You did well. I would expect no less from a soldier of your calibre.’ With that Freeza’s image flickered off.

Vegeta stared at the screen for a long moment, trying to decide how he felt about the praise.

///

Vegeta folded his arms and surveyed the battlefield. 

‘Well?’ Freeza asked from beside him.

Vegeta could only just make out all the edges of the battle. The line extended right across the horizon. ‘The left edge of the line curving into the city is getting the least resistance. They’re way ahead of the middle and the right edge.’

‘Good, and?’ Freeza prompted.

The middle is holding. The right edge is in trouble. Especially if the enemy can see it. Those are machines crossing the wasteland to the east and they’re going to slam into the line just where it’s weakest.’

‘Exactly what I’d do in their position,’ Freeza agreed. ‘And what are you going to do?’

‘Shore up the right edge right now, then take the fight to the machines heading in.’

‘Excellent. Go.’ The avid note in Freeza’s voice stirred a similar feeling in Vegeta. For once it was more than just the prospect of a fight that had Vegeta’s blood boiling in his veins. Fortifying one edge of the line would show that he could strategise. And it was nice to have an audience. 

Ragged cheers broke out along the line when Vegeta swooped in. He dismantled the huge machine that seemed to be giving these weaklings so much trouble. This machine had a pilot. They barely had time to scream. 

‘Well?!’ Vegeta roared, turning to face the soldiers at his back. 

They rallied together, shouting battle cries and brandishing their weapons. Vegeta’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a fierce grin as his gaze swept the ranks of soldiers. As much as he wanted to simply ride this wave of frenzied bloodlust, his duty was out to the east where the new machines were gathering. 

‘Alright!’ he shouted. ‘I’m going to keep those reinforcements off your flank. You all better be in the city heart by the time I get back. Kill anything in your path!’ The roar he got in response was deafening. Elation sang through him. They chanted his name, at least as many of them shouting ‘prince’ as shouting ‘general’. He launched himself into the air and sped toward the tanks. Those soldiers would hit the city before he was done. He could _feel_ it.


	3. Chapter 3

They’d gotten back from the mission hours ago. Vegeta had cleansed and eaten, but he was still feeling restless from the battlefield. Mechanical opponents weren’t the same as fighting flesh and blood fighters, even when the machines were piloted. The equipment in his training room on C deck was equally unsatisfying. He was getting to the point where he was thinking about ordering some people to fight him, but it just wouldn’t feel the same. In the mood he was in he might not be able to hold himself back and he was pretty sure Freeza would frown on having his troops killed during sparring. 

Vegeta stilled. He activated his scouter and sent off a message before he could think better of it. The reply came quickly.

 _I’m in my office on B deck_ Freeza sent back.

Vegeta went.

The door to Freeza’s office opened at a touch from Vegeta’s palm. The desk was scattered with more paperwork than he was used to seeing. Freeza was alone and looked up at Vegeta’s entry.

‘What did you want?’ Freeza asked. 

Vegeta stood in the centre of the room, his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides. He dropped Freeza’s gaze and started pacing. Freeza watched silently as Vegeta turned sharply at the edge of the room and stalked to the other side. He could feel his own ki spiking and fading back. Violence was singing in his blood and in a moment he’d do something stupid and act on it. He stopped and faced Freeza. ‘Spar with me.’

Freeza slowly tilted his head to one side. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I don’t spar. I wouldn’t even begin to be able to hold back.’

‘There isn’t a single person in this place I wouldn’t have to hold back with. Except you. If I don’t get the chance for a real fight, I’m going to kill someone.’

‘Is that a threat or a statement of fact?’ Freeza asked.

‘Huh?’

‘Never mind. If we fight, I’ll end up putting you in Medical. And that _is_ just a statement of fact.’ Freeza smirked at him and Vegeta’s blood boiled.

He walked up to the desk and planted his fists on it so he could lean into Freeza’s space. ‘Then put me in Medical,’ he snarled.

Freeza stood slowly, his ki rising in an inexorable wave. Vegeta’s mouth went dry as Freeza’s power level hit his and then just kept on climbing. Commanding lesser soldiers was fun and Vegeta was getting a taste for it, but nothing compared to this kind of raw power. ‘The main training room on C deck, yes?’ Freeza said. His red eyes glittered with malice. Vegeta just nodded back. It was an effort to break that intense gaze. 

///

Large mats lined a good portion of the C Deck training room and most of the equipment was crowded against the walls. Vegeta went to stand in the centre of the room. His shoulderblades had been itching the entire way there. Having Freeza’s steady unmasked power level at his back was messing with his head. Even in his base first form, Freeza was probably strong enough to end this quickly. 

Vegeta paused and turned to face his opponent. ‘If you’re this strong why do you never fight on the battlefield? You could finish any one of those planetary conquests in a fraction of the time.’

Freeza snorted softly and went to join Vegeta on the mats. ‘And if I was playing a game of Karstet I could simply reach across the board and take my opponent’s leader tokens. Where would be the fun in that?’

‘So the conquests, the battles, they’re just some sort of game to you?’

‘ _Everything_ is a game to me. I am the most powerful being in this galaxy, I needed _some_ way to entertain myself. I wouldn’t step in personally unless there were no other choices. Getting my own hands dirty practically counts as losing. So are you done stalling, or have you realised how stupid it is to invite me to spar?’ 

Vegeta shifted where he stood, his body automatically falling into a fighting stance. Nothing short of a real fight would be enough to dull the pounding waves of bloodlust. ‘I’m ready.’

‘Well the first shot is yours. We don’t want this over too soon, hmm?’

Vegeta’s lips peeled back from his teeth. He shot forward, aiming his first strike. Maybe it would have been better to blast Freeza with everything he had, but he wanted the physical satisfaction of feeling his fists hit flesh. 

Freeza threw up an arm and blocked the strike. The collision jarred Vegeta’s arm and the out-flung ki of that much force coming to a sudden stop left a prickling sensation in the air. Vegeta grinned and brought his foot across in a mid-kick aimed at Freeza’s ribs. Moving seamlessly out of the block, Freeza caught his leg and threw him against the nearest wall. Vegeta shed the force by twisting in mid-air, and pushed off the training room wall at the last moment. He launched himself back at Freeza, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the next strike. Freeza’s tail crashed into his torso and flung him hard against the floor. 

The landing drove the air from Vegeta’s lungs. He rolled just in time to avoid the punch aimed directly at his face and Freeza’s fist slammed into the floor instead. The training mat burst under the force and bits of synthetic foam rose into the air. Freeza’s leg shot out in a low sweep in almost the same instant and caught Vegeta in the ribs. Sharp pain lanced through him. The strike was hard enough to crack bone, maybe break it. A guttural noise tore from Vegeta’s throat. He pushed himself to his feet, needing to get some space before he could face the next attack. 

He was panting shallowly to avoid aggravating his ribs, but the pain had gone from a warning sign to a sort of dull heat just like it did in the middle of battle. His heart beat harder than it had during his last purge and sweat dripped down his body. He hadn’t felt this alive in weeks. Freeza looked utterly savage. The air around him shimmered with ki and Vegeta couldn’t tell if he was seeing it or using some other kind of sense. 

Vegeta summoned his ki to his hands and unleashed a ball of energy. Freeza swatted it aside and it collided with the wall. The surface of the wall bubbled and charred from the heat, but held. Bloodlust surged and Vegeta threw a flurry of ki blasts as fast as he could. Freeza dodged most of the onslaught, occasionally blocking with the glowing orb of ki he was holding in one hand. 

Channelling that much power had taken its toll and Vegeta paused to cough. Breathing was difficult and there was a bubbling feeling in his chest that he didn’t like. He coughed again and spat a mouthful of blood onto the training mats. Freeza’s lip curled at that and he threw the ki in his hand directly at Vegeta’s face. Vegeta wasn’t fast enough to dodge and barely managed to turn and take the blast with his body instead. The energy slammed into him, hitting in a way that always felt deeper than a mere physical strike. 

Vegeta’s vision cleared from the bright glow. He was wavering on his feet, but Freeza was _smirking_ at him. With a roar, he threw himself back into the fight, headless of the pain that tore through his chest. His whole body moved with the strike. All the force he could bring to bear was centred on his fist. Freeza caught it in a movement almost too fast to see. Vegeta nearly wrenched his shoulder as he was brought to a complete stop. Freeza’s smirk deepened as clenched his fist around Vegeta’s until the bones ground together. He darted forward, grabbing Vegeta’s upper arm with his free hand and kicking him solidly in the calf. Vegeta lost his footing and crashed down to one knee.

Freeza kept his hold around Vegeta’s arm and fist. He used his leverage to slowly increase the pressure on Vegeta’s forearm. Pain flared and a choked noise escaped Vegeta’s throat. He brought his free arm up and struck beneath Freeza’s ribs. Freeza just grit his teeth and then broke Vegeta’s arm with one sharp twist. Vegeta screamed. 

Freeza laughed and his next kick sent Vegeta sprawling. Vegeta got his good arm beneath him and pushed himself up. Sudden pressure on the middle of his back forced him down again and he narrowly missed slamming his face against the mat.

‘You just don’t stay down, do you?’ Freeza’s dry tones came from somewhere above him. 

The taste of blood was thick in Vegeta’s throat and breathing had become a real struggle. That last strike probably hadn’t been good for his ribs. He tried to reply, but he couldn’t form words so he simply growled low in his throat. Freeza laughed again and the pressure on Vegeta’s back vanished. 

‘If you get up again, I’ll keep going,’ he said conversationally, ‘but it’s probably wiser not to. I don’t want to accidently kill you.’

Vegeta took two deep breaths, ignoring the way they wheezed unpleasantly in his chest. He got his good arm under himself again and pushed up. He nearly managed to get to his knees before his arm started trembling and gave way. This time he did land face-first against the training mats. He groaned weakly. Even his good arm wouldn’t obey him now. 

The feeling of Freeza’s ki shifted somewhere above him. It rose again, but there was a new quality to it that felt deeper, vaster. Vegeta had felt it once before, back on Namek during that pivotal fight. 

‘That was more entertaining than I expected,’ Freeza said and his voice sounded deeper in this form. ‘But it’s hardly practical to take my general out of commission like this. Next time you’re feeling this kind of aggression, you can just kill someone. We have prisoners. I wouldn’t even mind if you killed the occasional soldier. I need to make examples sometimes… maybe you could be my executioner as well. You could have their fear as well as their admiration, if you wanted.’

Vegeta had to consciously focus to keep breathing. Speaking was beyond him right now. Killing outside of combat wasn’t nearly as satisfying, but he liked the sound of having their fear as well.

‘A conversation for another time,’ Freeza mused after a moment of silence. ‘This is going to hurt.’

Vegeta had just enough time to brace himself as Freeza picked him up and slung him over one shoulder. The pain stole his breath and he couldn’t even scream. He blacked out. 

Consciousness came and went in waves in Medical. Snatches of vision and impressions filtered to him.

‘My Lord Freeza…’

Nervous aliens with too many eyes and limbs fluttering around him.

‘…armour, get the cutting…’

A pair of red eyes boring into his through the panes of a healing tank.

Loud and persistent beeping noises and panicked twittering in a strange language.

A cold sensation travelling up his arm and then nothing but the sort of sleep that only happened in Medical. 

///

Freeza’s flagship loomed in the station’s hanger. It was easily the biggest vessel on the station, but there was only a skeleton crew populating it. Vegeta could sense their weak power levels crawling around the ship’s interior. He’d been released from Medical days ago and was eager for the next mission, even if this one was supposedly just diplomatic.

He was walking a step behind Freeza’s right shoulder and pointedly ignoring Tosh, who was standing on Freeza’s left. She had her nose buried in her datapad and was ignoring him right back.

‘Your quarters are behind the command station. Your scouters should have already flagged them for you,’ Freeza said as they all made their way on board. 

‘We’re not going into stasis?’ Vegeta asked.

‘I’m sure it would be a pleasanter journey if you did,’ Tosh said under her breath.

‘The Confederacy of Rocauc are practically our neighbours. Even getting to their central seat of power won’t take that long in a ship as fast as this,’ Freeza said.

‘How have they survived so close to your territory?’ Vegeta asked.

Freeza smiled and it wasn’t a pleasant expression. ‘Their tech is far beyond what anyone in this part of the galaxy has developed. Annihilating them would be a waste. I’d much rather have some of their scientists willingly working for me. They barely trade with outsiders and certainly not any of their best advances. That’s why this is going to be a strictly diplomatic mission.’ He turned to stare directly at Vegeta. ‘So act your rank. You get away with a certain level of… creativity in private, but in a situation as delicate as this, I expect you to fall into line. You will obey and if you embarrass me here, I will make you regret it.’

Vegeta shivered. He didn’t doubt that Freeza would carry through on a threat like that. The prospect of physical violence from Freeza barely fazed him these days, but he had more than he’d had since he was a child. It meant he suddenly had a lot more to lose. As much as he loathed swallowing his pride he could hold himself back for one mission. ‘Fine,’ he growled.

Freeza’s cold expression shifted toward amusement. ‘I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you were capable of it.’

‘Don’t I get a lecture about meeting the lowest possible bar for civilized behaviour? I might feel left out,’ Tosh said.

Vegeta glared at her and charged a ball of ki in his hand.

Tosh’s eyes went wide and she took a step back. Vegeta could tell how scared she was. He was used to fear from the weaklings around him and Tosh reeked of it. It was the anger that surprised him. Even afraid, her lips were pressed tightly over her teeth and she was _seething_.

‘Stop it, Vegeta,’ Freeza snapped. ‘Unless you’ve developed a sudden and burning passion for doing your own paperwork, leave her alone. And Tosh?’ he added, turning to her.

Tosh tilted her chin up, her expression still tight around the eyes. ‘Yes, Lord Freeza?’

‘Unless you’ve developed ki resistance, don’t taunt my general.’

‘I’ll make sure he never notices a reason to attack me,’ she said.

Vegeta let the ball of ki fade and crossed his arms, somewhat mollified. 

Freeza snorted and shook his head. ‘Actually, I think you can debrief Vegeta personally about this mission.’

Tosh gaped. ‘I wrote a report, my lord. It’s very thorough!’

‘Then you’ll have plenty of ground to cover.’

‘Is this a punishment?’ she asked.

‘It’s an order,’ Freeza said mildly.

Tosh nodded stiffly. ‘Yes, my lord.’

///

‘For the last time, she’s not the “queen”, she’s the head of the Confederacy,’ Tosh hissed. ‘It’s an elected position and the correct title is “Ambassador”.’

Vegeta grunted.

‘The Confederacy has only grown in power in the last few years because Freeza doesn’t want to risk destroying their scientific centres,’ Tosh continued. ‘Planets have voluntarily allowed themselves to be absorbed into the Confederacy. They think it gives them protection.’

Vegeta stared around the temporary quarters he’d been assigned. There was a lot more space than in ships that relied primarily on stasis for travel. It was kind of nice.

‘Are you even listening to me?’

He wondered if there was a mess on board and if it served the same sort of food as the officers’ mess back on the station. Freeza would be eating here so…

‘Vegeta is a weakling!’

‘Huh, what was that?’ Vegeta said, scowling.

Tosh pressed a palm against her forehead. ‘This is a punishment.’

Vegeta blinked. ‘You know things, right?’

Tosh let her hand drop away and she stared at him for a long moment. ‘I’m sure that looks like a nearly magical skill from where you’re standing, but yes, I think it’s safe to say that I “know things”.’

‘Someone told me that Freeza _had his eye on me_. Do you know anything about that?’ he asked. 

‘It’s common knowledge that he made sure no one would seriously hurt you when you were first brought in,’ Tosh said slowly. Her expression was blank, but there was something lurking in her eyes that Vegeta couldn’t quite parse. ‘A dead hostage is a useless hostage, after all.’

Vegeta’s jaw clenched. ‘Why did he bother with that at all, after –’ he cut himself off with a scowl.

Tosh gave him a sweetly venomous smile. ‘You mean why bother keeping a hostage alive when you’re going to massacre their planet anyway? You’d have to ask him yourself.’ Her tone went thoughtful. ‘But isn’t it interesting that the saiyans, with their ability to get exponentially stronger from defeats and maybe even become a serious threat, got wiped out completely? I mean controlling a whole planet of people like that wouldn’t be easy, but controlling just one? That’s a lot easier. It’s fun being a general, isn’t it?’ she finished brightly.

Vegeta stared at her. ‘What about you? What did Freeza do to your people?’ he snapped.

Tosh’s smile grew teeth. ‘My people were nearly wiped out before we’d even heard of Freeza. He destroyed the species that slaughtered us. I’m _grateful_ to him.’ 

Vegeta folded his arms and scowled. 

A smirk lingered on Tosh’s lips as she looked back down at her datapad. ‘As I was saying, the Confederacy has been growing in strength. There are a dozen planets under their banner and more are thinking about it.’

Vegeta tuned out the sound of Tosh’s voice and thought.

///

The planet they landed on was the seat of power in the Rocauc Confederacy, at least according to the bits of Tosh’s ramblings he’d listened to. There was unlikely to be any actual combat on this mission. Freeza didn’t need the protection of a retinue and could probably have demolished half the planets in this sector with minimum effort, but armies made the Confederacy edgy. Having only his top generals with him was a sign of good faith on Freeza’s part. Vegeta knew he was here to do any of the fighting that might _potentially_ happen because of how Freeza felt about getting his hands dirty. Tosh was there for whatever reason she carried those datapads around. Recording or something, he didn’t care. 

Vegeta was already bored by the time a large retinue of ugly aliens greeted them at the landing site. They had scales and claws and their faces looked wrong. They had the wrong number of fingers and the markings on their hides were stupidly bright and kept changing colour. Someone who was probably the leader approached Freeza warily and made some introductions. Vegeta could barely feel anyone’s power level, though a few of the guards at least registered as fighters. They were all armed though, so they couldn’t be that powerful. 

The three of them were led into a large building and through several wide corridors. They ended up in a large circular room with tiered seating extending up toward the ceiling. The queen of the Confederacy was seated at one end of the hall, surrounded by a handful of unarmed aliens. They were seated only slightly lower than her. He vaguely remembered Tosh saying something about advisors. 

The sibilant conversation filtering down from the tiered seating quieted as Freeza entered the room and took his place before the queen’s dais.

‘Greetings, Ambassador,’ said Freeza. ‘Has the Confederacy given any more thought to my generous offer?’

It was hard to read the queen’s face beneath the scales and markings. ‘We have advertised your offer widely and reached out to likely candidates, but unfortunately no one has volunteered to sign on with your… army. There has been interest, of course, we’ll keep trying.’

Freeza’s expression sharpened, his usual bored amusement shifting to something more dangerous. ‘I’m not necessarily looking for _volunteers_ ,’ he said quietly. There was a faint hiss underlying his words that almost matched the sounds the Confederacy aliens made when they spoke.

Vegeta tuned the conversation out and focused on the guards. No one here was strong enough to be interesting. Even Tosh was focused entirely on her datapad and seemed to be ignoring the proceedings as much as he was. 

The conversation between Freeza and the aliens was heating up. The aliens around the Queen’s throne were staring to talk too. Most of the markings on the Queen and the advisors had gone bright blue.

‘– some _war criminal_!’ one of the advisors squawked while its markings went fluorescent green.

‘I have never given you any reason to fear me, but that can change in a heartbeat,’ Freeza replied steadily. ‘This… consolidating of allies makes you look like more of target, not less of one.’

‘We’re not going to be intimidated by you or your rabid animals,’ the same advisor hissed, flicking a hand contemptuously in Vegeta’s direction. ‘Bringing your pet murderer here isn’t making your position more inviting.’

Vegeta snarled at that. He’d been called a ‘monkey’ enough times in his life to know exactly what the advisor had meant. He summoned a glowing ball of ki in his hand before he even realised he’d done it.

‘Vegeta!’ Freeza snapped. 

Vegeta turned his attention away from the advisor with an effort of will. The endless reminders to behave like a general, to _obey_ ran through his head. It would be an effort to swallow his pride, but he reminded himself what Freeza was capable of and what the consequences of acting out in public could be. ‘Yes, Lord Freeza?’ he asked as neutrally as he could through his clenched teeth.

‘I think one of our hosts was just stupid enough to insult one of _my_ generals. To my face. Kill her. But just her,’ he added as an afterthought.

For a heartbeat, Vegeta didn’t move. When he finally registered the words, the _permission_ he’d been granted, he grinned. ‘With pleasure.’

He leapt across the room, moving at top speed. No one was fast enough to stop him as he grabbed the advisor by the head and broke its neck with one sharp wrench. The crack of bone was loud to his ears and deeply satisfying. He was back at Freeza’s side before the guards had even fumbled their weapons up. 

Vegeta laughed when the advisor’s body hit the ground and the screaming started. A couple of the guards fired rounds from their energy weapons and Tosh dived behind Freeza, who contemptuously defected the blasts.

‘Silence!’ the queen roared, jumping to her feet. ‘Stand down!’ The noise died down and the guards stopped firing, but kept their weapons trained on Freeza and Vegeta. ‘How _dare_ you!?’ the queen demanded and snapped her teeth at Freeza. Her markings were bright orange now. ‘This is unacceptable behaviour. Get out of my hall and off my planet!’

Freeza smirked and gave an ironic little bow. ‘Of course, Ambassador. I will be back to continue our negotiations at a later date when everyone’s less… ruffled.’ He glanced down at the corpse, his eyes glinting with amusement.

‘Do you think I’ll ever allow you –’ the queen started, but Freeza cut her off.

‘Do you think you’ll have a choice?’ he asked quietly. 

‘Get out,’ she said, equally softly. It might have even been threatening if she’d had the power level to back it up. 

Freeza turned around and motioned for Vegeta and Tosh to accompany him. Hissing conversation broke out again as they left the hall.

///

Vegeta was restless when the flagship touched back down in the battle station’s hangar. The crew stayed on board to finish the shutdown maintenance tasks while he, Freeza and Tosh alighted. Vegeta caught Freeza’s attention as they crossed the hangar. ‘Can I talk to you for a moment? In private,’ he added, shooting a glare at Tosh. She didn’t even look up from her datapad and just sighed.

Freeza’s gaze flicked between them. ‘Thank you for your excellent work today, Tosh. I trust your mission will be simple enough now that you have access to the Confederacy’s network?’

A grin flashed across Tosh’s face. ‘Oh yes. I might need to requisition some muscle for retrieval, but locating the target is going to be easy now. They were very unprepared for this kind of attack.’

‘Excellent, dismissed.’

Tosh nodded amicably, still fiddling with her datapad. ‘Yes, lord Freeza.’ She glanced up at him and inclined her head before walking off.

Freeza turned to Vegeta. ‘Private enough?’ he asked.

Vegeta focused on the ki levels in the hangar. There was no one close enough to overhear. He nodded tersely.

‘Well?’ Freeza prompted.

Vegeta had been stewing about the things Tosh had said. The meeting at the Confederacy had brought back half-remembered events from when Freeza had taken him from his family. Freeza only ever bargained from a position of strength and just standing in the hall had been a threat, even if none of the Confederacy aliens had been strong enough to _sense_ it.

‘Planet Vegeta, my homeworld…’ Vegeta started. A muscle in his jaw jumped as he paused to take a breath. He hadn’t realised how tightly he’d been clenching his teeth.

‘Yes?’ Freeza drawled.

Vegeta’s hands curled into fists. ‘Why did you do it? Why did you _destroy_ it?’ Vegeta demanded. He almost expected smugness or a sneer from Freeza. Saiyans were powerful, a warrior race that couldn’t be tamed. They were a threat.

Instead Freeza’s expression was as cold and distant as the emptiness between stars. ‘Why do you care?’ he asked. There was nothing but a sort of mild curiosity in his tone.

Vegeta gaped. It was _obvious_. His father had been on Planet Vegeta! There’d been allies and a throne and everything Vegeta had grown up with. His _people_. His _race_. ‘Because it was _mine_ ,’ he snarled. ‘It was mine and you destroyed it!’

Freeza tilted his head. His expression stayed flat. ‘One planet. And not even a particularly important one. The saiyans were strong as far as warrior races went, but nothing special. Your people were mid-tier fighters in my army, at best. Would you have preferred never knowing how weak you were? Would you have been content as a strong fighter amongst middling troops, feeling powerful merely because you didn’t know any better?’ 

Vegeta scowled. Of course he would have been happier if he hadn’t known any better! That’s how it worked. ‘Yes!’

‘But now that you do know, isn’t it better to _actually_ be strong? To be able to meaningfully measure yourself against the strongest in the galaxy?’

It was the weakness in him that made Vegeta hesitate. Of course it was better to be truly stronger. He was the strongest fighter in Freeza’s ranks. He’d slaughtered Freeza’s old generals. At this point he could destroy the Ginyu Force itself if he chose to. There was no one that could stand against him now. He wouldn’t have reached this point if Freeza hadn’t intervened in his fate. He’d lost everything, but he’d also gained something here. Things he wouldn’t even have dreamed of as Prince or even King of the Saiyans. ‘It’s always better to be stronger,’ he muttered.

Freeza nodded. ‘I thought you’d say that.’ Vegeta dropped Freeza’s gaze. He didn’t like the way Freeza watched him, _read_ him. ‘If there was nothing else...?’ Freeza prompted. 

Vegeta shook his head mutely and Freeza left the hangar. It occurred to Vegeta that his initial question hadn’t been answered at all. With a flash of insight he realised what the answer would have been if he’d pressed Freeza: 

_Why not?_

Why not destroy a planet and wipe out an entire species if they weren’t strong or _useful_ enough? Vegeta’s stomach churned. It didn’t matter now. Vegeta had what he wanted and if _he_ decided to destroy a planet on a whim, no one could stop him now, either.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have updated. Please heed the tags, but more so.

A sudden burst of energy originating from the city centre washed out over the battlefield. Vegeta automatically flung up a hand and channelled ki in a bid to ward off the attack. The energy broke over their position. It left Vegeta’s skin prickling, but it didn’t feel dangerous. Freeza yelped and leapt from his throne as it fell out from underneath him.

‘What the hell was that?’ Vegeta demanded.

Freeza growled. ‘An EMP. Check your scouter.’

Vegeta frowned and did as he was told. His scouter was dead. He took it off and turned it over in his hands. It looked fine. ‘What?’ he muttered.

‘It’s an energy pulse that disrupts technology. Either they think our tech is better than theirs or theirs is shielded against this kind of attack.’

Vegeta snorted. ‘That won’t change anything. Their energy couldn’t touch me.’

‘Yes, but that’s still not the biggest threat.’

‘Right.’ Vegeta had read the field report and knew what Freeza was talking about. Buried beneath Tosh’s wordiness were interesting things like how much of a fight the natives were likely to put up. This fight was apparently going to be difficult enough on sheer power levels to warrant Freeza’s personal attendance, but Vegeta had yet to see any opponent strong enough to challenge even the ordinary soldiers. 

‘So what do you think of the battlefield?’ Freeza asked. 

‘That if their elites don’t turn up soon, there won’t be anything left for them to defend,’ Vegeta said with a smirk.

Freeza chuckled. ‘Mm, their casualties are rather mounting up, aren’t they?’

Vegeta grunted. He itched for a real fight. Even at this distance from the battlefield, the scent of blood and the screams were just strong enough to be alluring. He still disliked waiting on the outskirts, but he was beginning to see the value of a long view to a commander. At least Freeza seemed bored with this too. That made Vegeta feel a little better.

A sudden change in the quality of the noise drew Vegeta’s attention. A new group of soldiers was marshalling off beyond the battlefield, right past the city. He had to squint to see them. 

Freeza gave a satisfied sigh beside him. ‘That would be their elites now. You’d think they’d have been stationed closer to the population centre if they were actually there for defence.’

‘They don’t seem so tough,’ Vegeta sneered.

‘Don’t be so sure. Look at the discipline in the ranks. That’s a fighting unit. You might have your work cut out for you.’

Discipline or not, Vegeta wasn’t picking up as much as he was expecting from them in terms of power level. He hoped they were just hiding it or this battle would be disappointing. Just then, a spark of real power tugged at Vegeta’s senses. He turned to face the direction it had come from. There was nothing to see, but he could _feel_ it. Freeza was speaking, but Vegeta ignored it. The power levels were closing in rapidly, but they weren’t heading toward the battlefield, they were heading toward the landing field where the ships were stationed. And unguarded. 

A sharp rise in ki at his back had Vegeta whirling around, but he swallowed his snarl when he realised it was Freeza. A dense, powerful ball of ki glowed in his hand. ‘Don’t ignore me in the middle of an operation. I just gave you an order,’ Freeza said in a deceptively mild tone. ‘Get out there and crush those elites.’

Vegeta stood his ground. He was nearly sure Freeza wasn’t about to blast him here. ‘No.’

Freeza’s eyes narrowed. ‘No?’ he repeated calmly. His ki rose higher and Vegeta suppressed a flinch. 

He glanced down at the showy ranks that were starting to march toward the battle. ‘Those aren’t the elites,’ Vegeta said. ‘That’s a distraction. There’s a group of real power levels heading toward the ships.’

The ki in Freeza’s hand faded and he stared hard at Vegeta. ‘You’re sure?’

‘I can sense them.’ 

‘If you’re wrong, I’ll lose a lot of soldiers down there.’

‘If you’re wrong, you’ll lose your ships.’

Freeza paused while he weighed up Vegeta’s words. An uncomfortable feeling twisted low in Vegeta’s guts. He didn’t know what he’d do if Freeza ordered him away from the ships and toward the frontline. He could sense ki where no one else in the army could. Not even Freeza himself. 

‘Go,’ Freeza ordered. ‘Protect the ships.’

Relief washed over Vegeta and it was strong enough to leave him light-headed. He grinned, and it was far more than the prospect of a good fight that brought the expression to his face. ‘Yes, Lord Freeza!’

‘I’m counting on you, General.’

Vegeta drew on his ki and launched himself after those high power levels at his top speed. He reached the ships moments before the elites closed in. There were dozens of them, and while they were all below his power level, each one of them was a lot stronger than any of the enemies he’d faced on a purge in a long time. 

The elites were flying in a crisp formation and their leading edge spotted him at once. One of the soldiers at the front bellowed an order and the formation split apart. That must be the leader. Her power level was high enough to make it likely. The soldiers shifted in response and Vegeta couldn’t quite grasp the pattern. It would make targeting difficult. He picked an individual and swooped toward them. No distractions. If he had to kill them one at a time, so be it. He’d leave a pile of corpses for Freeza at the base of his ships.

Vegeta lost himself to the rhythm of the battle. His opponents blurred together in a haze of blood and pain. Sensing the energy of his opponents let him dodge and block in the middle of his attack manoeuvres, but these soldiers were disciplined. They dived in and feinted away at unpredictable intervals and always went in at least two at a time. Their leader commanded from the fringes, only darting in when he was distracted. 

Vegeta’s muscles burned with the effort of keeping up. He didn’t play with opponents like these ones and took every kill shot, crushing throats, tearing through bodies and blasting as hard as he could. He had killed enemies of this level before, and easily, but never this many at once. Their broken, twisted bodies dropped around him, but his victories came at a cost. His armour was shredded on one side and a ki burn arched from his shoulder to his hip, pulling every time he twisted in mid-air. One of his eyes was swollen shut from a particularly bad head blow and he couldn’t use his right arm properly after their leader had broken his collarbone. 

He threw himself at one of the last soldiers and feinted, turning a tackle into a pass and grabbing at their hair. With a hard wrench he dived and broke the soldier’s neck with the force of his plummet. He was going too fast to control his descent and slammed into the ground. A heartbeat later a huge blast of ki tore into his back. He howled. Power like that had to have come from the leader. His senses told him that she was the only one left. He tried to push himself up, but his body wasn’t responding properly.

She landed lightly beside him and he could just about turn his head to see her fully. Half-remembered things he’d heard from Nappa, or maybe his father, drifted through his mind. There was no shame in dying in battle, for a saiyan. His people lived and died by power. It was the only constant, the only thing that mattered. Even with the waves of pain washing through his body, he wanted nothing more than to get to his feet to throw himself at this worthy opponent. His fingers barely twitched when he tried to move. 

He snarled instead and the sound was weak strangled to his own ears. He didn’t welcome his death, but he understood it and nothing would make him flinch from it. The leader of the elites smirked at him and raised a hand, her ki already glowing hot and powerful. The world was obliterated by brightness. Vegeta’s senses reeled from a surge of ki like nothing he’d ever felt. This must be death. It hurt less than he thought it would. He blinked. The leader was on the ground, battered and unconscious. When – 

Freeza touched down a few steps away. He was in his true form and the ki radiating from him was overwhelming. Vegeta had only seen Freeza’s true form once, but the image was seared into his mind. ‘…from my general,’ Freeza said. His voice was cold and flat. 

It took Vegeta a moment to realise that there were other soldiers touching down around Freeza. He couldn’t even sense them past Freeza’s power. 

‘If he dies, I will personally slaughter every medic on this mission and I will take my time. Stabilise him so I can move him. You and you, secure this scum,’ Freeza continued, gesturing toward the leader of the elites. ‘I want to make my displeasure clear back at the battle station.’ 

Vegeta blinked again as Freeza approached him, flanked by two medics who immediately got out disconcerting looking equipment. He tried to lift his head and speak, but words were beyond him at the moment. 

‘Lie still! For once in your life stay down,’ Freeza ordered and Vegeta subsided. ‘You did well, General,’ he added quietly. 

Vegeta let the medics poke at him with their needles and machines. The pain they caused was barely worth the name on top of his real injuries. When the crawling cold unconsciousness of an anaesthetic hit him, he didn’t try and fight it. He trusted Freeza to get him to a healing tank. He always had before. 

///

Vegeta was jolted out of sleep by a loud, persistent beeping. It was coming from the next room. Freeza was probably trying to contact him via the screen in there. The new scouter he’d received after his old one was destroyed wasn’t as comfortable and he avoided wearing it in his quarters. He hauled himself out of bed and pulled on the armour he’d dropped on the floor last night.

The screen in the next room was indeed beeping and a light on its base was flashing. Vegeta flicked it on. He froze as the image came into focus. It was Freeza’s true form. For a moment Vegeta wondered if the station was under attack. He couldn’t think of any other reason for Freeza to be accessing that much of his ki. Then more detail filtered through as he shook off the last remnants of sleep. The colours were wrong and the proportions were off. It wasn’t Freeza. 

Not-Freeza spoke. ‘Hello, Prince... Vegeta, was it?’

Vegeta stared. There was only one person this could possibly be. ‘Cooler.’

Cooler’s faint smirk deepened. ‘I see you’ve heard of me.’

Vegeta scowled. ‘What the hell do you want?’

‘I think the question of what you might want is the more interesting one. I have a proposal for you.’

Vegeta folded his arms. ‘What?’

‘My brother is responsible for the destruction of your planet and your people. I can’t imagine you have much of an attachment to him after that. Come and work for me instead. I can’t promise you your revenge after Freeza’s latest… accomplishment… but I do take great joy in undermining him and at the very least you’d be out from under his thumb.’

Vegeta’s arms fell to his sides and he stared at the screen. Cooler’s expression was hard to read, but there was a certain air of expectancy about him.

Vegeta couldn’t reply, could barely _think_. Freeza’s words came back to him, the ones he’d said right at the beginning before he’d forced another loyalty oath out of him. _You don’t have anywhere to go and you never have._ Here Cooler was offering exactly that. A way to _leave_. Even a few months ago Vegeta might have jumped at the chance but now… now things had changed.

Vegeta was the strongest soldier in Freeza’s army and that _meant_ something. He could have whatever he wanted. Freeza actively encouraged it. The next words that ran through Vegeta’s head were a lot fresher. _If he dies, I will personally slaughter every medic on this mission and I will take my time._

Cooler was watching him intently, and it was clear he wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence. Vegeta took a deep breath and was surprised when it shuddered on the exhale. ‘I don’t know you and whatever you’re offering it isn’t enough. I have what I want here.’

Cooler’s eyes glittered dangerously. ‘Well, my brother has certainly gotten under your skin. I sometimes forget what excellent work he does on the desperate and pitiful. He destroyed everything you ever had and here you are willingly serving him. If he were here, I might even applaud.’

Vegeta bared his teeth and snarled. ‘I make my own choices!’

‘I’m sure it feels like that,’ Cooler said.

Vegeta’s screen beeped again. Before he could react, Freeza’s image flicked on right next to Cooler’s. Vegeta glanced between the two of them, wondering if either of them realised it. Freeza was the one to break the silence.

‘Vegeta, I want you in my office on B deck in an hour’s time. There’s a briefing for a command mission. I’ll be sending you in with your own battalion.’

‘Hello, brother,’ Cooler called out.

Vegeta froze, his heart hammering.

Freeza’s mouth twisted with distaste. ‘Oh, Cooler. Are you trying to suborn one of my generals again?’

Vegeta’s nails bit into his palms. ‘I turned him down,’ he blurted. ‘I wasn’t going to betray you.’ A second later he realised how suspicious that sounded. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Freeza cut him off.

‘Obviously. What could he have offered you? He doesn’t have an empire or even an army. He has a rag-tag group of miscreants that wander the galaxy stirring up trouble.’

‘And zero paperwork,’ Cooler added mildly.

Freeza ignored him. 

Vegeta didn’t know what to say. He’d agonised over this choice and Freeza waved it away like it hadn’t even been an _option_. He’d always been good at knowing which way Vegeta would go. ‘Can you keep him off my screen?’ Vegeta finally asked.

Freeza hummed. ‘I’ll put Tosh on it. She should be able to design a firewall to keep him out.’

‘For the next month or two, maybe,’ Cooler said.

‘See you in an hour, Vegeta,’ said Freeza and his image disappeared. 

Cooler’s attention returned to Vegeta with the intensity of a blade. ‘As I was saying Prince Ve– ’

Vegeta raised a hand and fired a blast of ki at the screen, completely obliterating it. ‘As I was saying, I don’t _care_. And it’s _General_ Vegeta,’ he muttered to the empty room. He grabbed his scouter off his bed and headed out. He’d hit the C deck training room to kill an hour before Freeza needed him.

///

Vegeta entered Freeza’s office. There were a couple of files spread across the desk and two empty seats. Vegeta crossed the room and hesitated. Freeza looked up and motioned for him to sit. ‘Tosh will be here in a moment. This is about our expansion into the Syta sector.’

Vegeta sat and glanced at the empty chair. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d arrived to a briefing before Tosh. ‘What if Cooler contacted her? What if he made the same offer and she took it up?’ he asked suddenly.

Freeza snorted just as the door to his office slid open again. ‘Ah, Tosh, Vegeta was just wondering if Cooler had contacted you with an alternate offer of employment.’

Tosh chuckled. ‘Right, I was just about to give up _this_ position to go off and play space pirates instead. I gather Cooler finally got around to making an offer to Vegeta?’

‘Yes,’ Freeza said with a smirk. He turned back to Vegeta. ‘Tosh alerted me as soon as Cooler contacted her, asking if I wanted her to string him along to get information. I don’t actually need a double agent in his little group, but listening in on that conversation was highly amusing. Cooler’s rage when he realised that Tosh was just playing with him was particularly satisfying.’

‘Why did _you_ turn him down?’ Vegeta asked Tosh.

She gave him a cool look. ‘He didn’t have anything I wanted.’

Vegeta remembered his conversation with Freeza about what _he_ wanted. ‘What does she want?’ he asked Freeza.

Freeza glanced at Tosh, tilting his chin slightly.

Tosh shrugged. ‘Tell him if you want. He won’t get it.’

‘Administrator Tosh wants security and luxury in that order. My brother can offer her neither to the degree that I can.’

Vegeta sneered. ‘Of course someone as weak as her would want meaningless things.’

Tosh gave Vegeta a flat look before turning back to Freeza. ‘I told you he wouldn’t get it.’

‘If everyone’s quite finished, I summoned you both here to discuss a crucial combat manoeuvre in the Syta sector. You and I will be on the battlefield,’ he told Vegeta. ‘This will also be a show of power as much as a direct conquest. That means mobilising a good chunk of the army. Tosh, you’re in charge of logistics. The important thing is leaving before the week is out.’

‘Yes, Lord Freeza,’ Tosh said, already focused on her datapad. 

///

When Vegeta walked into the officers’ mess, Spire signalled him over. She was at one of the larger tables and another officer was already sitting to her right. Vegeta nodded at them both as he sat and motioned for one of the kitchen aliens. 

‘I was just telling Kynase about my last mission leading a battalion of orlis troops. You two have met, right?’ Vegeta nodded again. The name was familiar, as was the purple hair. ‘Anyway, orlis are heavy-hitters, but not particularly fast with all that scaly plating weighing them down. The planet we got assigned was nearly double standard gravity, so they were already struggling.’ 

The kitchen alien came over. ‘Prince Vegeta?’ it asked softly so it didn’t interrupt Spire. 

‘Five plates of that Traxen dish I had here last time,’ he ordered. 

The alien bowed its head. 

‘And another carafe for the table and an extra glass for Vegeta too,’ Spire added in the middle of her story.

‘Did you know about the laser canons, or did the field report overlook them?’ Kynase asked, putting her cutlery down.

‘Oh, they were a surprise, but nearly useless against the orlis. I, on the other hand, spent half the mission dodging rather than giving orders.’

Kynase frowned. ‘Embarrassing when your troops are more durable than their commander.’

Spire’s smile stayed pleasant, and considering Kynase’s power level, her remark didn't have much sting. ‘Yes, well generally that’s not how it goes. I mean look at Freeza. Nothing on the battlefield that can touch him is going to be any easier on his troops. Same goes for Vegeta,’ Spire added.

Vegeta grunted. ‘Freeza likes to talk about shock and awe sometimes. Having a lot of troops on the ground sends a message.’

Kynase nodded. ‘Having a distant commander sends its own message too.’

‘But it’s less fun,’ Spire added. ‘Nothing beats taking the fight to the enemy directly.’

A kitchen alien walked over to the table, carrying a carafe and glass on one tray and the first set of Vegeta’s dishes on a second. It unloaded the trays on the table as unobtrusively as possible.

‘What’s the drink?’ Vegeta asked it.

‘A mild intoxicant for mammals. Contraindicated for amphibious species, Prince Vegeta.’

Vegeta hesitated. ‘Call me General Vegeta. That’s my proper title.’ 

The kitchen alien pressed some buttons on its scouter. ‘Yes, General Vegeta,’ it said and left.

Spire filled her cup from the carafe and raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Are you just fucking with them about the title, or do you actually care? Because I can respect either option.’

Vegeta scowled and poured some of the clear liquid into his cup. ‘It’s the title I earned. What’s a royal title without a throne, anyway?’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ Spire said carelessly and drained her cup in long swallows. 

///

Vegeta stood at Freeza’s shoulder in the middle of the hall in the centre of the Rocauc Confederacy. Tosh wasn’t there this time, but Vegeta had sensed her weak power level back on the ship. Maybe Freeza had left her behind because he was worried she’d get shot. Hopefully that meant they’d be more violence this time. With the way Freeza was smirking, Vegeta suspected that this ‘diplomatic’ mission wasn’t going to end peacefully.

The queen’s markings were bright orange and she stared down at Freeza with cold contempt. ‘I don’t know why you threatened your way into another audience. After your actions last time, you have to know that you’ll get nothing from me or my people. Why don’t you just end this farce? You could destroy this planet and me along with it, but you won’t stop the machinery of the Rocauc Confederacy. Our worlds will not fall so easily during war. Our ships can match your crude organic power.’

Freeza listened to the tirade with a faint smile on his face. Then he reached up to activate his scouter. ‘Administrator Tosh, come here please, and bring our leverage.’ He didn’t take his eyes off the queen as he spoke. 

Whispered conversation broke out as Freeza waited and the queen’s hands tightened on the arms of her throne. It felt like a long time before Tosh entered the hall. She wasn’t alone. She was leading a small alien by the hand. It was the same species as the other queen and her advisors. Vegeta’s stomach dropped as he realised that it was a child. His eyes went to the queen. She had stood up and her markings had gone a dull brown that nearly blended in with the rest of her hide.

‘Mama!’ the child said and tugged at Tosh’s hand.

Tosh crouched and wrapped her arms around the child’s torso, whispering in its ear.

Freeza was still staring at the queen. 

‘Reyhe,’ she said in a choked whisper. ‘He’s been missing for days, how did – ?’ 

‘Yes, in the middle of negotiations. And you thought that was a coincidence? How naïve,’ Freeza said. 

The queen sat down heavily. ‘You have to know…’ Her voice cracked and she swallowed before speaking again. ‘This won’t change anything. It _can’t_ change anything. I won’t sell my people to you. Not even for – I can’t balance the life of my son against the lives of billions! You won’t win this way!’ It looked like every word hurt her. Her breaths came in harsh pants, but she met Freeza’s gaze unflinchingly.

Freeza’s expression twisted with irritation. ‘We’ll see what you have to say when you’ve had some time to consider the consequences. If you give me what I want, you’ll be fortunate enough to never see your son again.’

The queen snapped her teeth in Freeza’s direction. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ she demanded.

‘Keep defying me and find out.’ With that Freeza turned his back to the queen and started strolling toward the door. ‘Tosh, Vegeta, we’re done here.’

The child started to wail as Tosh picked him up. Even a weakling like her could keep a mere child in line. Vegeta clenched his jaw and tried to ignore the way his head was pounding and his vision kept blurring. He tasted bile in the back of his throat and swallowed hard.

///

Vegeta sought Freeza out once they were all back on the ship. There was a room on board that Freeza was using as an office, though it lacked the grandeur of the one he had back on the station. Freeza was seated behind a desk, idly reading over some paperwork when Vegeta walked in. 

‘What’s going to happen to the child?’ Vegeta asked without preamble. 

Freeza glanced up at him and put aside the paperwork. ‘That depends on the Ambassador. If she cooperates, he’ll probably end up as another army grunt. If she doesn’t…’ Freeza growled. ‘She has resisted me at every turn and at this point I’m just as happy to see her suffer as give in. If she defies me again, she’ll see _pieces_ of her son.’

Vegeta stared at Freeza. His fists clenched and unclenched by his sides. He strangled the noise that wanted to escape his throat.

Freeza’s head tilted. ‘This is getting to you, isn’t it?’

Vegeta looked away. He had to unclench his jaw before he could speak. ‘Yes.’

Freeza stood up and cautiously made his way around the desk until they stood face-to-face. ‘Why?’

Vegeta barked a laugh and it wasn’t a happy sound. ‘You think I don’t remember being taken as a hostage to ensure my father’s cooperation?’ He bared his teeth. ‘Does the child even matter to you as anything other than a way to get to _her_?’

‘No. Of course not. And you didn’t matter either. You were some nothing child from a nothing planet. I made it clear to the troops that you weren’t to be killed and then I largely forgot about you. I never rescinded the order, even after you stopped being a bargaining chip, because of that amusing tendency of yours to pick fights with people twice your power level. I noticed that much and it looks like it paid off. You matter now because you’re powerful. And I think you like mattering, _General_ Vegeta.’

Vegeta let the words wash over him and felt the tension in his shoulders loosen. He did matter now. He was stronger than anyone and _that_ was all that mattered. He had the respect he’d been craving forever and he had power beyond anything he could have dreamed of as the prince of a dead world. He was happier than he ever remembered being. ‘I earned it.’

‘You did. So I gather that this particular child of the Rocauc Confederacy means nothing to you personally?’

Vegeta snorted. When Freeza said it like that, it was almost silly to think he’d come in here raging about it. ‘No. What’s a weird alien child to the most powerful member of your forces?’

The corner of Freeza’s mouth twitched upward. ‘Good. I’ll keep that in mind. Was there anything else?’

‘No,’ said Vegeta. He hesitated. ‘Thank you.’

The look of stunned disbelief on Freeza’s face was worth it alone, but that wasn’t why Vegeta had said it. Freeza cleared his throat. ‘Yes, well. Go about your business,’ he said, waving a hand toward his office door. ‘Dismissed.’

///

Vegeta slapped his palm against the lock on Tosh’s door. He wasn’t really surprised when it stayed red and just beeped at him reproachfully. ‘Let me in, or I’ll break the door down,’ Vegeta bellowed from the hallway. 

A few moments passed and Vegeta started to pick just where he’d aim his kick when the door slid open. ‘What,’ Tosh said flatly from the doorway.

‘I’m here for the Rocauc child. Freeza’s orders.’ 

Tosh narrowed her eyes. ‘Did you forget how scouters work?’ she asked.

Vegeta scowled. ‘I’m here now, where is it?’

Tosh stepped aside with a sigh. ‘In my spare office. Just… wait here and don’t touch anything.’

Vegeta went to the centre of the entry room and folded his arms. ‘Hurry up.’

Tosh glared at him as she left the room, but knew better than to say anything. She returned a few moments later with the child. Its markings were a dull pinkish colour. ‘Come here,’ Vegeta ordered.

The child looked at him with wide eyes. Tosh murmured something to it and nudged it forward. It walked over and Vegeta seized it by one arm. He derived no particular satisfaction from a job like this one. There was no challenge here. The child was hardly an _opponent_ , just the focal point of one of Freeza’s orders.

‘What are you going to do?’ Tosh asked when Vegeta put his other hand on the child’s shoulder.

‘Tear its arm off,’ Vegeta replied. ‘Freeza wants something to send back to its mother.’ He shifted his grip when the child started wailing and was just about to apply the necessary pressure.

‘Wait, Vegeta, don’t!’ Tosh said and grabbed his wrist. There was real panic in her expression.

‘What?’ he snapped. 

She leaned in close so she could hiss in his ear. ‘Not here, you idiot! Take him down to Medical where they have the facilities for something like this. Do you want him to bleed out before Freeza’s done making his point?’ 

Vegeta shook her off and growled under his breath. He wasn’t about to admit she was right to her face. He’d never had to worry about whether enemies survived or not. He picked the child up and stalked out of her room.

The child called out to Tosh. Vegeta’s lip curled and he hit it, not hard, just to shut it up. He wondered if there were any new dishes to try in the officers’ mess in the evening, after he was done with this errand. He was starting to find that some of the other officers were decent company. They had interesting stories about past battlefields.

///

Vegeta strode through the corridors on B deck. He’d had a satisfactory sparring session against the robots that one of Freeza’s pet scientists had designed. The bots had patches of ki-resistant alloy on their frames and the whole of the main C deck training room had been repurposed for Vegeta’s personal use. That kind of intensive training was a different kind of satisfaction than the executions he performed for Freeza. He liked killing and the additional fear it earned him in the ranks, but it hardly pushed his limits. It had been a good idea of Freeza’s to get one of his scientists to design something challenging. 

The door to Freeza’s office opened at a touch from Vegeta’s palm. ‘You wanted to see me?’ he asked as he crossed the office and sat down opposite the desk.

Freeza smiled at him and retrieved a file. ‘Yes, I have a mission for you.’

‘Will it give me a fight?’

‘No, but I might spar with you afterwards if you finish it in a timely fashion.’

Vegeta bared his teeth in a grin. These days Freeza used his second form when they sparred. The brutal defeats he’d had at Freeza’s hands had only made him stronger. Soon Freeza would have to resort to his bestial third form to beat him. ‘Then I’ll make it quick.’

Freeza smirked. ‘It’s Earth. You’ve been there before. There have been rumours that the Dragon Balls have resurfaced. I don’t think it’s true, but I can’t have whispers on the galactic stage undermining my rule. Go there and destroy the planet utterly so there can be no hint of anyone opposing me.’

Vegeta snorted. ‘Only a suicidal idiot would oppose you.’

Freeza gave him a long look. ‘Quite. The hardest part of this mission will be the travel time. Take whatever ship you want. Though I recommend one of the bigger vessels. A general should travel in style.’ 

Vegeta nodded, already thinking about the fastest ships with stasis facilities and a decent food replicator. He also remembered that there’d been a saiyan on Earth. Another surviving member of his species. There was something nostalgic in that thought, but that was all. Like Freeza had said, there was only one way that confrontation would have ended. Vegeta was the strongest member of Freeza’s army. He was the best killer in the galaxy and the only hope a third-class could have had would have been the honour of dying personally at Vegeta’s hand. ‘I’ll take the fastest cruiser you’ve got and I’ll destroy the planet from orbit. Then I’m going to beat your second form when I get back.’ 

Freeza barked a laugh. ‘Are you now? I look forward to seeing you try.’

‘I’ll do more than try,’ Vegeta said. He caught a glimpse of himself reflected in Freeza’s eyes. His smile was as sharp and dangerous as Freeza’s and he wondered if his own eyes reflected back the same bloodlust. ‘I’ll win.’


End file.
